The Election Commission has completed all arrangements for the re-polling in 30 polling booths in the Kandyand Trincomalee parliamentary constituencies on Tuesday. Polling in these booths was annulled after complaints of irregularities in the April 8 general election.

 

The outcome is being watched keenly as the fate of some of the bigwigs in the ruling combine and the opposition would be decided. Tamil National Alliance (TNA) leader R. Sampanthan is one awaiting the result.

 

The re-polling, scheduled two days ahead of the first meeting of Parliament, would complete the polling process and enable the political parties to release names of candidates on the National List.

 

The 29 seats from the National List would be filled up on the basis of percentage of votes bagged by each party. Since the ruling combine has polled over 60 per cent of the votes cast, it would have the bulk of the share from the List.

 

According to the results cleared so far, the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance has won 117 seats, with the main opposition United National Party (UNP)-led alliance trailing way behind with 46 seats. Projections indicate that the UPFA combine led by President Mahinda Rajapaksa might be short of a two-thirds majority in the 225-member House.

 

The results of the remaining two districts, expected to be known after Tuesday mid-night, would give an idea on how close the ruling combine is to a two-thirds majority needed to carry out any amendment to the Constitution.

 

All major political parties are agreed on the need for major political reforms which would require constitutional amendments. These include switch over from the Executive Presidency to a parliamentary system.